Ok, so I have been searching and researching and searching some more...I want to get an aquarium..now I can't decide if I should get a 20-28 gallon for my bedroom, or a 45- 60 gallon one for our living room. Sigh. My boyfriend is absolutely no help. I have at this point 2 betta, 4 guppies and 4 guppy fry..I will leave the guppies in there 1.5 gallon tank...the fry are in a beta zen home thing (about .5 gallons) move one of the bettas from his tank into the aquarium with a few irradecent sharks and a couple of cory cats. So what is your advice? Bedroom or bigger in the family room? Sigh, you would not believe how many fish stores I have been to this week. I am really becoming a crazy fish person...always been the crazy horse girl now known around town as the crazy fish girl. thanks!

Please please please no iridescent sharks... these fish reach well over 4 feet in adult length and MUST be kept in schools of 5 or more. A very good example of why you should ALWAYS look up the adult size of the fish before you buy! Remember, 50% of the fish you see in stores are babies and may double, triple, quintuple or get 5689584 times the lenght at which you see them in the stores.

I think both tanks are an extremely good size for beginners. You may want to consider which area will be easier to get a Python hose to before you choose. Other than that I would presonally go for a bedroom tank (maybe cause I have 3 :D) because there are few more relaxing things than watching fish as you fall asleep. I even have a light timer so that I don't have to jump up and turn the lights off before I fall asleep!

Then again you may be in your living room more and want a display tank. While bigger tanks are generally easier (hence the 'start with the biggest tank you can afford' rule) I don't think the 60g will be significantly easier than the 20-28. Personally I would start with the smaller one because it would take me a long time to figure out which fish I wanted to put in the 60g. All up to you of course!

Just another point-- the betta and guppies will do best with smaller fish but in a 60g you may be tempted to get larger fish than your betta & guppies will tolerate.

Hi Kelly thanks for the post! I know about the sharks, actually there was one at the belle isle aquarium that i believe was over 4 foot when I was a kid. There is a youtube link to a person's shark as it grows too...I didn't know about needing 5 though I talked to a few different petstores that said once the sharks got to be too big they would trade them for babies again...but 5 would be too many in a bedroom tank regardless of how small they are...back to the drawing board about what to put in now...sigh. Thanks!

Also I know that huge fish (like over 2 feet) have potential to break the tank, hence the term 'tank busters'. Large schooling fish like bala sharks and iridescent sharks get so skittish when kept alone that when someone passes or approaches the tank they purportedly jump up, hitting the lid or thump into the glass.